SYDNEY, Jan 5 (AFP) - Australia on Tuesday said there was no evidence the murder of an Indian man in Melbourne was racially motivated, as it downplayed the impact of the killing on ties between the nations.

The death of 21-year-old Nitin Garg, who was stabbed fatally in the abdomen as he walked to work at a hamburger restaurant on Saturday night, follows a string of crimes against Indian nationals in Australia.

The murder has received wide press coverage in India, with one newspaper describing Garg's death as proof "that the issue of racist attacks on the Indian community needs to be addressed by the Australian authorities."

But Australia's Acting Foreign Minister said while the murder was an emotional issue, there was nothing to suggest the killing was a race attack.

"It is an unfortunate -- very unfortunate -- circumstance, but the police have continued to reaffirm the fact that there is no evidence that this is a racially based attack," Simon Crean told reporters.

The accounting graduate's death prompted an angry response in India, with Foreign Minister S.M. Krishna describing the murder as a "crime on humanity" and saying it would "certainly" affect ties between the two countries.

But Crean, who is trade minister, said Australian officials had been in contact with the Indian High Commission in Canberra as he downplayed the impact on bilateral ties between the growing trading partners.

Asked whether the issue would hurt relations, Crean said: "I doubt very much that it will."

In India, the Mail Today said Garg's murder showed that Australian police needed to do more to stop violence against Indians.

"The police claim that it is too early to describe the attack as racist, but there are enough indicators that it is most likely to have been motivated by the victim's national origins," it said in an editorial.

The paper ran a cartoon depicting an Australian policeman wearing a pointed white hood associated with the US racist group the Ku Klux Klan. The officer was shown saying "We are yet to ascertain the nature of the crime."